Study raises concern for the Earth's 6th mass extinction. In a new study
published in the journal Nature, several scientists from the University
of California, Berkeley, USA; the University of Sao Paulo in Brazil and the
National Evolutionary Synthesis Center in North Carolina, USA evaluated animals
currently listed as "critically endangered," "endangered" and "threatened" by
the International Union for Conservation of Nature.

They compared
current endangered species' conditions with five previous extinction periods
over the past 540 million years, when at least 75% of all animal species
disappeared.

Their conclusions included the observation that while the
Earth has currently lost a relatively small percentage of species, the rate at
which they are disappearing now, which some scientists have said is 1,000 times
faster than the normal pace of evolution, could set off a sixth mass extinction
in as little as three centuries.

At the same time, co-author Professor
Anthony Barnosky of the University of California, Berkeley said that it is not
too late if we act now to resolve habitat loss, disease, global warming and
other largely human-caused issues.

He stated, "It's very important to
devote resources and legislation toward species conservation if we don't want to
be the species whose activity caused a mass extinction.”

Thank you
Professor Barnosky and other international colleagues for your extensive work in
showing our potential for an irreversible tragedy perishing that would
ultimately affect our own survival. May we act swiftly to preserve the lives of
all beings on the planet.

Speaking in a November 2010 video message
presented during a climate change conference in the United Kingdom, Supreme
Master Ching Hai addressed the root cause of such losses and what can be done to
stop them.

Supreme
Master Ching Hai : A recent study by the United Nations found that plants and
animals are now disappearing at up to 1,000 times the natural background rate of
extinction, with vital life-supporting ecosystems that could soon be
irreversibly damaged.

The livestock industry is the leading cause of an
alarming decline in wild species. In an October 2010 study, Dutch researchers
found that protecting natural areas is not sufficient to stop these fast
extinctions of flora and fauna; rather, one of the most effective policies is
changing to a no-animal diet, meaning plant-based food.

So if we stop
all animal products - fish, egg, meat, and dairy - we will save the oceans, save
the climate; and we could halt also biodiversity loss.